NASA's New Horizons stunning 'halo' image of Pluto's atmosphere

Updated 4:28 pm, Friday, July 24, 2015

Backlit by the sun, Pluto’s atmosphere rings its silhouette like a luminous halo in this image taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft around midnight on July 15.

Backlit by the sun, Pluto’s atmosphere rings its silhouette like a luminous halo in this image taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft around midnight on July 15.

Photo: NASA

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Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view of Pluto.

Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view of Pluto.

Photo: NASA

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Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this sharper global view of Pluto.

Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this sharper global view of Pluto.

Photo: NASA

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Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view of Pluto.

Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view of Pluto.

Photo: NASA

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This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the “heart,” which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across.

This view is dominated by the large, bright feature informally named the “heart,” which measures approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) across.

Photo: NASA

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Pluto and Charon are shown in enhanced color in this image, which is the highest-resolution color image of the pair yet returned to Earth by New Horizons.

Pluto and Charon are shown in enhanced color in this image, which is the highest-resolution color image of the pair yet returned to Earth by New Horizons.

Photo: NASA

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This new image of an area on Pluto's largest moon Charon has a captivating feature—a depression with a peak in the middle, shown here in the upper left corner of the inset.

This new image of an area on Pluto's largest moon Charon has a captivating feature—a depression with a peak in the middle, shown here in the upper left corner of the inset.

Photo: NASA

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Remarkable new details of Pluto’s largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI).

Remarkable new details of Pluto’s largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI).

Photo: NASA

NASA's New Horizons stunning 'halo' image of Pluto's atmosphere

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NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is continuing to bring us an intriguing new look at the dwarf planet Pluto.

In an image captured on July 15 and delivered from the spacecraft Thursday, a breathtaking scene showing Pluto's atmosphere, backlit by the sun and glowing like a halo, has stunned observers.

"We knew that a mission to Pluto would bring some surprises, and now — 10 days after closest approach — we can say that our expectation has been more than surpassed," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. "With flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling," Grunsfeld added.

According to NASA, scientists had previously calculated temperatures would be too warm for hazes to form at altitudes higher than 20 miles above Pluto's surface, not the 80 miles seen in the photo.

"The hazes detected in this image are a key element in creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that give Pluto's surface its reddish hue," said Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

"We're going to need some new ideas to figure out what's going on," said Summers.

In images released Thursday, the spacecraft's onboard camera, LORRI, and its visible/infrared imager, Ralph, contributed to a composite four-image rendering showing both visible or non-visible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

"The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles away from Pluto, show features as small as 1.4 miles. That's twice the resolution of the single-image view captured on July 13 and revealed at the approximate time of New Horizons' July 14 closest approach."

NASA on Friday posted this zoom-in image of what has been informally named “Tombaugh Regio,” in honor of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the dwarf planet. Tombaugh Regio (Latin for “region”) is a cratered plain possibly still being forme

Media: Facebook/NASA

New Horizons will continue to send data stored in its onboard recorders back to Earth through late 2016. The spacecraft currently is 7.6 million miles beyond Pluto, healthy and flying deeper into the Kuiper Belt.